First outage, couple of questions

[mikeyahearn]

Hello, I recently was hired on for the Brunswick Nuclear plant outage starting in febuary due to a couple friends i have that work at the plant. I live locally so I've been trying to get on full time  for some time, but was hired just for the outage. Im being sent to Kings Mountain in charlotte for some testing and to get my nuke badge. However, I was wondering what I should do to continue to work other outages if the full time spot doesnt happen. Should I talk to other outage workers, or should I let my recruiter (Joey Melanson for Bartlett) that Im interested in working outages at other Duke Energy facilities. Im completely new to the nuclear world so I have ZERO experience and I'm only 20 years old. So im trying to kick off my career the best way possible and make the best decisions I can. Should I call other facilities and let them know I have a badge and just completed an outage(After the Febuary outage is over, of course.) and let them know Im interested in working at that specific site? I only have a high school education and a little bit of community college. Ill be badged and everything so I would think I would have a good chance at working other duke energy outages. Just looking for some info since im a complete noobie. Thanks for any input. BTW I am actually a housekeeping/decon tech at brunswick right now

[Smart People]

Talk to Joey and tell him you'll go ANYWHERE.

also find the number for DZ Atlantic recruiting.

Right now until you build a list of contacts, calling sites out of the blue is a bad idea. everything needs to go through the recruiter. You are going to work for Bartlett, not Brunswick or Duke.

Starting off you need to be like a leaf on the wind going wherever they send you until you have experience and a reputation. You can request that your resume be submitted to certain outages. Just be clear that you are flexible.

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,10706.0.html
Tips for the traveling nukeworker.

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,16263.0.html
ten things every new senior should know. still some good tips for new jrs

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,25963.0.html
Getting in FAQs

https://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,34997.0.html
Read this discussion.

[mikeyahearn]

Thanks for the info. Now would it be best to tell him I'm flexible to go anywhere before this outage or after I get one under my belt?

[Laundry Man]

Sooner is better than later.  Would be helpful if we all knew what function you will be performing.
LM

[radrat]

If your looking into a carrier in this industry, there are some options. All of the advise so far is correct. Once you get your foot in the door at a plant, you need to make sure you keep your record clean, always disclose everything, even if its traffic ticket, there looking for honesty and integrity.

Going the Decon route is a good place to start. You will learn as you go with respect to contamination and radiation common practices.. etc.. once you have made it through G.E.T (General Employee Training).

When you get to the plant if the Supervisor doesn't know you, let him know who you are and that you are new. This will aid in your job assignments as well as who you are placed with to learn/help.

Absolutely let Joe at Bartlett know you will go ANYWHERE they put you and you will appreciate the experience.

Once you make SR Decon you should be looking for Jr RP positions (this is due to only allowing a certain amount of decon time to go towards your Jr RP Time).

When you start to do Jr RP time you need to access this information on this site to help once again with your path forward.


IF you look at other options like getting a degree in Radiological Sciences or Physics that works also, but keep in mind it will be another 2 years before you get an associates and THEN you will start as a Jr RP Tech, possibly missing the "Hands On" education as a Deconner.

This rout also has a lot of compition - See other threads concerning the time it takes to go from Jr RP to Sr.

As I stated earlier, there are lots of options. Keep your record clean, learn from your peers, ask questions. HAVE FUN!... This is a fun carrier path you have chosen, you will meet a lot of different people with a LOT of different personality's.

[Rennhack]

One suggestion.  Only 3 months of decon count towards HP time, so after 3 months of decon, you may want to start looking for RP/HP jobs.

https://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php?topic=9266.0

[Eric_Bartlett]

All the advice given so far is good, sound advice -

Definitely contact Joey and let him know you'd like to do more than just Brunswick, if possible you'd like to transfer to Harris and/or Robinson if they have any slots that you would qualify for.

Definitely contact DZ to see what they have that you may qualify for and for that matter, I'd also contact Quality Nuclear as they also place RP and Decon at 1 or 2 sites – basically never put all your eggs in one basket especially with limited or no experience

Keep a notebook – each entry should have date reported to training, date was laid off, actual job title of what you were hired to be, a good list of duties, as with limited experience those will be what sells you ion the next job.  If you receive any meter qualifications you most definitely want to list those as that can/will help you eventually make the move from Decon to JHP.   Make sure you write in at least 2 references for that job along with their numbers...I'm not talking co-workers, make sure they are management.  

Be open and willing to travel away from home on a moment's notice – a lot of the time low level or entry level slots when opened at a site are geared for individuals that live locally to that site, but on occasion if the site can't fill these slots or keep them filled they may go to the vendor last minute and request the vendor fill these slots with "outside" the area resources to fill them

Be persistent, but not a gnat.  There is a fine line between calling in to stay in touch/keep updated and being a nuisance.  Ask the recruiter when you should call back.  They may sound like a broken record for a while with their reply of "Nothing yet, try back next week" but most entry level/low experienced techs that stay persistent eventually end up working.

Good luck and welcome to the industry!

Eric Bartlett

[Eric_Bartlett]

One suggestion.  Only 3 months of decon count towards HP time, so after 3 months of decon, you may want to start looking for RP/HP jobs.

https://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php?topic=9266.0

True as an industry standard if those 3 months have meter quals or meter use in the duties - there are however plenty of utilities that give up to 6 mo's for meter quals/use, some will give up to 12 mo's for decon with meter quals or use, I know of one will give 6 mo's for non-meter qualed decon and even have one that will give 1/2 credit up to 24 mo's total for meter qualified decon.

lesson to be learned I guess is, if you eventually want to switch from Decon to HP, when you work decon try and make sure you obtain meter qualifications and once you obtain 3-12 mo's of meter quals as Decon try to make the switch to HP if you havent already done so.

[mikeyahearn]

Thanks for all the info you guys. Really appreciate all the info I can get.

[Rennhack]

True as an industry standard if those 3 months have meter quals or meter use in the duties - there are however plenty of utilities that give up to 6 mo's for meter quals/use, some will give up to 12 mo's for decon with meter quals or use, I know of one will give 6 mo's for non-meter qualed decon and even have one that will give 1/2 credit up to 24 mo's total for meter qualified decon.

lesson to be learned I guess is, if you eventually want to switch from Decon to HP, when you work decon try and make sure you obtain meter qualifications and once you obtain 3-12 mo's of meter quals as Decon try to make the switch to HP if you havent already done so.

But what does the NRC say when they audit those resumes?  How much credit do THEY give?

[Eric_Bartlett]

But what does the NRC say when they audit those resumes?  How much credit do THEY give?

As far as I know, and I could be very wrong, the NRC doesnt give time, they make sure that the utilities procedures are within acceptable paramaters based on the ANSI Standards and that the utility doesnt violate thier own qualification procedures.   Each utility has their own interpretation of the ANSI standards and what can be credited towards HP.  BHI of course has a very conservative interpretation so that we don't violate any of our clients programs.  I really can't speak to how the NRC looks upon each individual utilities qualification procedures other than that these programs have been in place for years, and I'm sure the resident NRC inspectors have gone over them.  I can say that BHI resumes and qualification records do get audited by both our clients and the resident inspectors to ensure we are providing what we say we are.

Does that answer your question Mr. Mike?

[Rennhack]

Yeah, It answers it about as god as one could expect.  I know when I was transitioning form Decon/Jr RP to Sr RP, my resume was audited along with others, and mine passed every time, however others were not as fortunate. -- I was always meter qualified as a deconner.  Back then, we all were.

[OldHP]

The "Standards" are open to the interpretation of the site/facility, in the case of RP/HP the RSO/RPM!  The Regulator may have some comments as to the strictness or leniency of the procedure, but will not say this or that individual does/does not qualify (Ops and License, they [NRC] look at differently and want to, in most cases, do their own calculations, but, normally agree the licensee is in compliance.

Back in my utility days I tended to be conservative, until I saw performance.  A tech who had 3 years of 'control point watch' or 'dosimetry' didn't make the cut even at an 18.1 plant.  A fresh out NN ELT was a Jr. until we performance, then even after two weeks in the plant was a Sr.

Eric is very correct, Bartlett (BHI) has always been conservative in presenting resumes!  Much better than some others.  (Kudos to Bill and Jerry)!  I can remember Bruce saying, "You are moving him to Sr.  He'll have to go back to Jr. on his next job"!

However - We are getting slightly 

[mikeyahearn]

Well I got hired full time at brunswick for fire watch. Hope fully I can work my way up pretty fast.

[Laundry Man]

Well I got hired full time at brunswick for fire watch. Hope fully I can work my way up pretty fast.

Full time with the utility as a fire watch?  Guess congratulations are in order.  As to working your way up pretty fast, take your time and learn everything they will let you.  You are starting pretty much at the bottom.
LM

[mikeyahearn]

Full time with the utility as a fire watch?  Guess congratulations are in order.  As to working your way up pretty fast, take your time and learn everything they will let you.  You are starting pretty much at the bottom.
LM

Yeah. It works out a lot better for me since I live about 3 minutes from the plant. And yeah I'm definitely excited to learn new stuff

[mikeyahearn]

Well today was my first day. I loved it except all that paperwork and testing.

[Marlin]

Well today was my first day. I loved it except all that paperwork and testing.

Nuclear power just get use to it 

[andreaslattery]

As someone who is relatively new to nuke(just over a year) I know what it's like.
You've probably got tons of questions, so please do ask, you'll never be penalized for trying to learn.
If you eventually decide to leave that firewatch position I also highly recommend the decon and rp path.
I was actually able to get 3 months of decon experience in one outage, which is pretty unusual these days.
You learn a lot as a deconner, and I personally enjoy doing it.
I recently made the switch over to RP. Again learning a ton in the process.
The only issue I have is finding jobs. I'm still trying for a spring job myself.
Networking is key! Apply everywhere.
I wish the best of luck to you, Welcome.

[mikeyahearn]

Thanks you guys and surprisingly enough I JUST finished my testing and training, not even badged yet (tomorrow morning) and I've already got another core job opportunity doing facility maintenance at Brunswick for Bartlett and its a little more pay and more benefits then I had. Depending on how that goes, I'm also interested in the HP/RP path as well as security. Time will tell

[Marlin]

Thanks you guys and surprisingly enough I JUST finished my testing and training, not even badged yet (tomorrow morning) and I've already got another core job opportunity doing facility maintenance at Brunswick for Bartlett and its a little more pay and more benefits then I had. Depending on how that goes, I'm also interested in the HP/RP path as well as security. Time will tell

Congrats thanx for the feedback.